1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parking control unit for establishing whether or not a parking fee has been paid for parked vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cities will normally have one or more vehicle parking companies who distribute parking meters, or so-called pay meters, throughout the city in a number of different places, of which streets and large ground-based parking areas are the most common.
In addition to coin payments, it has become increasingly common practice to pay a parking fee with a cash card of one kind or another. Card payments are made by drawing the cash card through a card reader on the pay meter.
The invention relates to the type of payment system with which the person parking a vehicle draws the cash card through a card reader In the pay meter and the pay meter stores the cash-card number and the time at which the card was read.
It is highly desirable to be able to use any parking meter whatsoever when parking a vehicle and then use any parking meter or pay meter whatsoever to pay the parking fee when collecting the vehicle. Thus, it should be possible to commence a series of parking occasions at one place in the city or town and draw the cash card through the reader of a given meter, and to terminate the series of parking occasions at another place in the city or town, by drawing the cash card through the reader of another meter.
One problem with the majority of known systems is that the pay meter must produce a parking ticket that contains machine-readable information and that each pay meter must have a reader that is able to read the ticket. This requires the pay meters to be serviced at relatively short intervals, in order to ensure the function of the meters. It is also necessary to replenish the pay meters with tickets.
Handling of the tickets can also be problematic. A lost ticket must be reported as being lost, in order to be able to terminate parking of the vehicle concerned.
A solution to this problem is described in Swedish Patent Specification No. 960112-7.
The invention according to this prior patent relates to a method of cash card billing by means of parking meters or pay meters when parking a vehicle, wherewith a system of pay meters includes several pay meters that are equipped with a cash card reader. A person parking a vehicle will in initially look for a first pay meter and with the aid of the cash card reader enter information carried on the card, at least with respect to the card account number, wherewith the pay meter is caused to store the account number and the time at which parking had commenced in a memory belonging to the pay meter, when reading the cash card. In conjunction with terminating parking of the vehicle, the cash card is inserted into another pay meter and read by the card reader of this meter, this latter pay meter optionally being any chosen pay meter in the pay meter system, including the pay meter first mentioned. The second pay meter is caused to store the account number together with the time at which the card was read, i.e. the parking terminating time, in a memory belonging to this second pay meter.
The invention according to this prior patent is characterized in that each pay meter has a keyboard by means of which a person can enter the registration number of the vehicle to be parked, in conjunction with causing the cash card to be read by the card meter at the commencement of parking of the vehicle. The pay meter is caused to store the vehicle registration number together with the account number and the time at which parking commenced, and the memory of each pay meter is connected to the memory of a central computer; and in that billing is carried out on the account number carried on the cash card in question for the parking time that has elapsed between commencing and terminating the parking of the vehicle.
According to one embodiment of this patent, the system of pay meters can be instructed to print-out or display those vehicle registration numbers that have commenced a parking period but have not terminated a parking period of the vehicle.
This instruction may, for instance, be given in a manner such that a car park attendant inserts a special authorization card in the card reader. The pay meter will be designed to print-out a list of vehicle registration numbers in numerical order with regard to those vehicles where a parking has not been terminated. Alternatively, the registration numbers can be shown on a display in alphabetical numerical order and the car park attendant can skim between registration numbers with the aid of arrow keys, for instance.
The car park superintendent can then compare the registration numbers of parked vehicles with numbers displayed or printed-out by the system. A vehicle whose registration number is not found In the system will be duly fined.
It will be understood that the system described in this prior patent specification is best suited for parking systems whose geographical separation is limited, such as multi-car parks or ground-based car parks. When the system is applied, for instance, over the whole city center, the lists will be very comprehensive and quickly out of date.
The present invention solves this problem and provides a very fast and effective parking control unit.
The present invention thus relates to a parking control unit which is intended primarily for checking whether or not a parking fee for a parked vehicle has been paid. It is intended for use in a parking system of the kind with which the user registers an account number and the vehicle registration number at the start of a parking period, and again registers the account number at the time of terminating the parking period of the vehicle. The account number, the vehicle registration number, the parking starting time and the parking terminating time are stored in the memory of a central computer so that billing can be effected on the account number concerned for the parking time that has elapsed between the parking commencement time and the parking terminating time. The parking control unit is portable and includes a display, a computer unit with an associated memory, and a communications unit adapted to communicate with the memory of the central computer to obtain information relating to the registration numbers of those vehicles which have commenced a parking period in the system but have not terminated the parking period of the vehicle. The parking control unit also includes an optical image or picture reproducing device which functions to reproduce an image of the registration plates of vehicles and to clearly show the registration numbers. The parking control unit is adapted to compare an imaged and clearly shown registration number with those registration numbers of vehicles that have commenced a parking period but have not terminated parking in the system, and to indicate, with the aid of an indicating means, whether or not a clearly shown registration number belongs to a vehicle that has commenced a parking period but where parking in the system has not been terminated.